Prevent methane hydrate formation in natural gas valves

The discussion here focuses on the thermodynamics involved and on the requirements for a successful natural gas valve application in which the incidences of hydrate formation and icing of the valve are reduced.

Gas flow across a control valve is considered a classic
throttling process that is defined by energy not
being added or extracted from the process gas as it traverses
the valve. Therefore, total enthalpy is preserved, entropy
increases and the process is thermodynamically
irreversible.

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